Marcus took a deep breath, looking at the large building in front of him. The raider was on a mission for supplies, and the Whitespring Mall was the place to get them. He wouldn't exactly be gaining the supplies through legal matters, but in the wasteland sometimes that was the only way to get anything. He was going to survive by any means necessary, no matter how he had to do that. 



The raider walked into the building, which looked like no one was actually there, a benefit of coming this late. They were either sleeping, or gone entirely until the next day. That worked for Marcus as he snuck around to the vendor area where he could help himself to whatever he wanted. It was almost too easy! Marcus gathered up just about everything he could carry, from medical supplies to ammunition to food. And it didn't cost him a dime like a lot of the other suckers who played things "by the book." 



"There, they won't miss any of this. I'll take better care of it anyway and put it to real use." Marcus smirked to himself, feeling cocky and confident over how easy this thievery was. He didn't even need to use a weapon! On the way out, he noticed a sweet roll with pink frosting on the counter just ripe for the taking.



"Don't mind if I do!" he chuckled to himself, swiping it and biting into it. However, as soon as he swallowed, he fell into a coughing fit as if it was too dry. In addition to that, Marcus found himself losing his senses rapidly, dwindling until they all left, and Marcus passed out once they were all gone. 



While Marcus was unconscious, a lot of things would change, starting with his body. The length of Marcus' face extended a fair bit, his nose pushing to the end of it as it formed into a pointed muzzle. Speaking of his nose, it shrank into the snout, being reduced to nothing more than simple nostrils resting at the tip of his muzzle. Marcus' ears increased in size, with the sides becoming straighter and the tips becoming pointed as they took on a more triangular shape as they traversed up his head until they now resided at the top of it. 



The length of Marcus' hair grew a fair bit, reaching a bit past his shoulders while it became more organized while the light brown coloration turned into a bright pink color. This same pink found itself growing over the exterior of his ears, with the interior of them a slightly more faded shade of pink instead. His blue eyes turned hazel, with the length and number of eyelashes he had increasing. Marcus' eyebrows became noticeably shorter, all while the upper half of his face as well as the back of his head grew pink fur matching his hair color. Meanwhile the lower half around his eyes and underside of his muzzle grew white fur instead. 



The white fur continued down Marcus' neck, covering up the front of it while the backside of it grew more pink fur instead. Afterward, Marcus' form looked like it was contained in another layer, with a brownish red color forming around his neck that looked a bit like a peel. There was a floral pattern going down it that ended a bit past his chest before transitioning back into a sakura pink down the rest of the front of Marcus' body. As for the backside, this had the darker red shade instead. 



Marcus' arms were slowly pressing into the sides of his body, and began merging with it entirely as his limbs were vanishing at his sides. Soon, Marcus didn't have arms at all. As for his legs, they too pushed together and merged into each other, but unlike the arms, didn't vanish entirely. Instead, Marcus' feet connected at the heels before shrinking down into a simple curved point. This left Marcus' lower body as nothing more than a tail he would have to slither around on rather than being able to walk on legs - something impossible now since he didn't have them anymore! The tail was at its thickest near where Marcus' waist used to be and got progressively thinner the further away from it his tail was before being at its thinnest at the tip. In the process of Marcus' species changing, his sex wouldn't stay the same either, with Marcus' inner workings becoming those belonging to the opposite sex inside and out and proper for his new species. Marcus was a human man no more, but a feral, sakura-colored Serperior girl. 



The world around Marcus was significantly different now. The remnants of the war, the bombs, everything were seemingly gone, now looking like they were in the time before the wasteland became what it was. However, also vanishing were weapons, and most electronics that were considered modern. In fact, the very building he was in was gone entirely! Instead, his body was on luscious grass with lively trees casting shade over him. He appeared to be in some kind of lush forest as opposed to an old run-down building. 



"Hey! Hey are you okay?" the Serperior felt her body shaking a lot. 



"Wh-what...?" she questioned, eyes fluttering open and staring right back at a Riolu girl. "Wh-where am I...?" the Serperior moved her body to "stand up," and quickly realized something else that was very problematic. "Who am I...?" 



"You don't know who you are?" the Riolu tilted her head. 



"No...but...wh-what am I?" she squeaked out, realizing her lack of limbs. 



"A Serperior, did you hit your head? How do you forget your species?" the Riolu questioned sympathetically. 



"Serperior...? No, I'm supposed to be a human!" 



"Hoomen?" the Riolu struggled to pronounce the word. "I have no idea what that is."



"It's...fine. I can't say much, I hardly know who I am to begin with. May as well not know what species I am either." she said with a small chuckle but frowned after. 



"Maybe I can help you!" the Riolu said excitedly. "If you don't know anything, you'll need help figuring everything out!" 



"That's very sweet of you, but I don't want to be a burden..." the Serperior said with a warm smile.



"You won't be! It'll be nice to finally have company! I'm tired of being a lone wolf!" the Riolu shook her head. "I'll help you figure everything out and get your memories back! But uh...what should I call you...?" 



"That's...a good question." the Serperior said with a soft giggle. "I don't really know what I should be called." 



"How about Sakura?" the Riolu suggested. "It's fitting with your colors! You don't look like any Serperior I've ever seen before." 



"Guess I get to be a unique Serperior then." she smiled. "And I think Sakura is a great name! But what's your name? I never asked that." 



"Oh! That's right! I was so worried about you I forgot to introduce myself!" the Riolu rubbed the back of her head blushing. "I'm Samantha, but my friends call me Sam!" 



"Then I suppose I'll be calling you Sam." Sakura smiled. "But...what do we do now? I don't have a place to stay or anything." 



"I miiight have a solution to that! But I can't guarantee we'll get in." Sam said. 



"Anything is better than nothing. I don't know anything so I'm in your hands." Sakura gave a weak chuckle. 



"Well, there's this adventurer's guild, but they only accept members in pairs, so I could never get in." Sam said. "But now there's two of us! If they let us in we can get food AND shelter! I don't know about you, but I could go for a good meal. I can only enjoy berries for so long." 



"I don't know if I ate anything before I wound up here, but my stomach does feel pretty empty, I wouldn't mind some food." 



"So you'll do it? You'll try to get into the guild with me?" Sam asked with excitement, her tail wagging behind her. 



"I will!" Sakura smiled back. "Maybe they can help me to figure out who I am or where I came from." 



"Perfect! And I'll be right by your side the whole way! Memories or not!" Sam said proudly. "We better get going then! We want to get there before it gets dark so we can sleep in warm beds!" 



"I do like the sound of that." Sakura nodded, the two Pokemon making their way out of the forest and towards the guild hall. While Sakura had no recollection of her old life, slithering did feel weird and took a bit to get the hang of moving at more than a snail's speed. But eventually, she managed. Sakura had no idea what this world had in store, or what happened to her memories. She looked over to Sam and how excited she was, and knew no matter what happened, things were going to be okay!